Alumnae Initiation at Jewish Sororities?
 

Hi, I'm new, and I'm so glad that there is a section here for other people like me who always either regretted not joining a sorority/fraternity, or always wanted to but never did.

When I was in college, I always thought that sororities/fraternities were predominantly for non-Jewish students. Now many years later, I find out that there are quite a few Jewish sororities out there.

My question is, does anyone know of any Jewish sororities that have alumnae initiation (or something to that extent), that I can join? I was thinking of going back to my college (it's close by), and ask the sororities there if they have that. I'd really appreciate any information.

Thanks,
NyuViolet Alum

I sent you a PM.

Jewish Sorority AI
 

I had contacted one of the Jewish sororities (I was under the impression that there was only one that was Panhellenic and still primarily Jewish -- am I wrong?) -- and was told that there was no AI option.

Sigma Delta Tau does it on very rare occasions. When the chapter was installed here at FSU, the local Hillel director (very instrumental in helping the interest group) was initiated with the chapter.

Alpha Epsilon Phi, which is the other Jewish NPC sorority, appears to be very similar to SDT in regards to Alumnae Initiation not being very common. The few alumnae initiates I am aware of (outside of members of absorbed local sororities) have been very involved advisors particularly to colonies/new chapters in areas without a strong alumnae base, the mother of an extremely active alumna and more of a honorary initiation of a prominent jewish volunteer. I severely doubt AEPhi would consider Alumnae initiation for anyone who is not already closely conected to AEPhi in a similar way.

Although not part of the NPC, another national social sorority that is primarily Jewish is Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi. You would have to contact them to find out if they have Alumnae initiation.

Good thought! Weren't they on "Sorority Life" on MTV?

Their chapter at UC-Davis took part in the first season, yes.

They 'went national' shortly afterwards. They have a few chapters across the country now. That said, their main URL has been suspended, but I did find a Beta chapter in Minnesota with links to other chapters, but again, it looks like URLs have been suspended. I know their chapter in AZ closed after just a couple of years.

I am a Jewish member in a non-Jewish based sorority. When I was in school, the Jewish house had closed the semester before I went through rush (yup, I am an oldie moldy). I have love KD from the first party I attended, have been an active member of my Alumnae Association for years and am on our National Leadership Team. My being Jewish has never been a problem for me with the sorority.

DaffyKD

At less conservative universities, you will find more diversity among chapters. Even 25 years ago, we had Jewish members in our house, as did other non-traditionally Jewish sororities. At that time, OSU still had AEPhi, DPhiE and SDT.

There was some discrimination back then in a few of the houses, but that went away. I'm sure you will find the same mentality in the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast, but I can't confirm that would be the case in all areas of the country

We had a sister in our chapter who was Jewish and also very active in our campus Hillel. We didn't have any primarily Jewish orgs on campus besides Hillel but I would definitely look into other groups as well as AEPhi, DPhiE, etc. It seems AI is more common in some groups than others, though I think in general it is somewhat of an uncommon occurance and something that takes a lot of work, dedication, and committment on your part. Good luck!

Hmmm...I don't know if there are any "Jewish" sororities other than Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi; definitely no female counterpoint to Alpha Epsilon Pi in the NPC. The "historically" Jewish sororities like Alpha Epsilon Phi have a lot of non-Jewish women as members (not that AEPi doesn't...but being a fraternity of "Jewish men" is pretty central to how they present themselves) as well.

AEPhi nationally and officially considers itself a "Jewish sorority" and does not officially refer to itself as "historically Jewish". Some members describe AEPhi using the "historically jewish" label because they feel the label "Jewish sorority" can be misconstrued as saying our membership is limited to Jewish women when, in fact, this has never been a policy of our organization.

Sigma AEPi has never had a restrictive clause as far as I am aware so I don't know why they would be considered a Jewish organization more so than ourselves or SDT. (Though I am not sure how SDT currently labels themselves - any SDT's out there to clarify).

What I find, and this is not an attack on AEPi, is that AEPi has put out its own definition of how it defines itself a Jewish fraternity and then others use this definition to measure other organizations. Each organization has their own idea of what constitutes a Jewish fraternity or Jewish sorority and based on that decide if that is a label they want to apply to themselves.

Hmmm....I see what you're saying. Understand, I am not a member and you are....so you definitely have the "inside track". All I know is through all my experience with the Greek community; you know that Alpha Epsilon Pi is the "Jewish" fraternity. Whereas with Alpha Epsilon Phi and Sigma Delta Tau....well I didn't realize they were Jewish until I saw their websites (or something like that).

The following is from AEPi's national website:
Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish Fraternity of North America, was founded to provide opportunities for a Jewish man seeking the best possible college and fraternity experience. We have maintained the integrity of our purpose by strengthening our ties to the Jewish community and serving as a link between high school and career. Alpha Epsilon Pi develops leadership for the North American Jewish community at a critical time in a young man's life.

The following is from Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi's national website:
he purpose of ΣΑΕΠ is to promote unity, support, and
Jewish awareness, as well as to provide a Jewish
experience for ourselves, our members, and the
community as a whole. We are devoted to friendship,
motivation, opportunity, leadership, and well-being.


In contrast on Sigma Delta Tau's national site, there is nothing referring to "Jewish women" or anything in the purpose. In fact, the only time I see it mentioned is when talking about the history of the founders. Also with Alpha Epsilon Phi, the sorority refers to "Jewish" when talking about the founders. The following is the mission statement from Alpha Epsilon Phi's website:

The mission of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority is to inspire and support exemplary women dedicated to friendship and a lifelong commitment to Alpha Epsilon Phi while building on the vision of our Jewish founders.

Now I will fully admit I'm an outsider looking in here....I don't know all of the details of the mission and character of these organizations. But if I were a non-Jewish person (I'm Jewish...but not in a Jewishly-inclined organization), I would have less hesitation joining AEPhi or SDT as opposed to AEPi or Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi (placing specific sex aside). Even though all these groups are open to members of any religion, it's pretty easy to see why some may be more appealing to non-Jews than others would be.

Likewise, my impression of my own GLO is that DPhiE was never intended to be a "Jewish" organization--it was intended to be non-sectarian. But, because our founders were Jewish, so were many of our early members, and then most of the women in our chapters were....so I would say DPhiE might be considered "historically Jewish" although we certainly do not currently have a majority Jewish membership. And many older people who I run into that had DPhiE at their university back in the day assume that DPhiE is a Jewish sorority... and some have assumed that I am too. Maybe that is a good example of the distinction?

I don't think I would ever call D Phi E a "historically Jewish" sorority. There's nothing in your founding history (as I read it online) saying that you were founded to serve the Jewish community. Your international philanthropies have nothing to do with Judaism or the Jewish community.

Whereas w/ A E Phi, their site says they were founded by "seven Jewish women" and w/ SDT, one of their philanthropies is Jewish Women International.

To me, "historically [this or that]" means that the group has a history of giving to causes affiliated with [this or that] and that they still support the [this or that] community, even if you don't now and never did have to be [this or that] to join.

Well our website is in transition right now and we have a task force working on a written history so we may not be telling the whole story. I know that when I joined DPhiE as a colony member I had no idea of the history and we never talked about the founders being Jewish--which is something that has started to change as we try to connect tfor our members to why we were founded.

When I moved to NY there were several people that, when I told them I was a DPhiE, said, "Oh, that's the Jewish sorority". Sometimes it is perception or experience. That said, very proud of our non-sectarian heritage and that we are home for women from all kinds of backgrounds.